Interestingly, the section in the logs isn't entitled "water treatment" but "water hardening". Take a look:
1916 Courage KK (771 barrels) | ||
Water hardening | lbs | oz/barrel |
Kainit | 200 | 4.15 |
C.C. | 75 | 1.56 |
Salt | 50 | 1.04 |
Source: Document ACC/2305/08/248 of the Courage Archive, held at the London Metropolitan Archives | ||
1916 Courage Double Stout/Porter (997 barrels) | ||
Water hardening | lbs | oz/barrel |
Kainit | 95 | 1.52 |
C.C. | 50 | 0.80 |
Salt | 35 | 0.56 |
Source: Document ACC/2305/08/248 of the Courage Archive, held at the London Metropolitan Archives | ||
1916 X Ale (940 barrels) | ||
Water hardening | lbs | oz/barrel |
Kainit | 85 | 1.45 |
C.C. | 55 | 0.94 |
Salt | 35 | 0.60 |
Source: Document ACC/2305/08/248 of the Courage Archive, held at the London Metropolitan Archives | ||
Kainit is KMg(SO4)Cl•3H2O. I assume CC is calcium carbobnate. Salt is, well, salt (sodium chloride).
There's not a great deal of difference between the treatment for Porter/Double Stout and the X Mild. But I was slightly surprised at how much more of the Kainit was added to the KK.
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Trying to lift the sulphur levels to those of Burton well water, presumably – this analysis says Kainit is 9% potassium, 3% magnesium, 20% sodium and 4% sulphur. Anybody like to do the maths and work out how much sulphur would end up in the water with that much Kainit?
A Text-Book of the Science of Brewing By Edward Ralph Moritz, Page 25:
http://books.google.com/books?id=vgjrVxljX3sC&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=Kainit+brewing&source=bl&ots=BxBp5RfsAX&sig=aUiP2ewBaKl0cNHulgRIogzmzKY&hl=en&ei=2Lq5TKOWLYK0sAOcyrG4Dw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Kainit%20brewing&f=false
"The mineral Kainit contains in itself the substances most desirable for mild ale brewing...the following analysis shows its average composition:
Potassium sulphate - 23.0%
Magnesium sulphate - 15.6%
Magnesium chloride - 13.0%
Sodium chloride 34.8%
Water 13.6%
From what I understand, sulphate accentuates bitterness, salt accentuates sweetness, and magnesium and potassium make yeast happy.
Interesting stuff.
Moritz is referring to the clarifying power of sulphates and thus their desirability in mild ale, which would need a boost to clarify quickly (finings or other -of Burton pale it was said once you didn't need to add finings).
But why then the greater amount for KK? If stored, which it must have been but maybe not for that long by then, wouldn't storage take care of clarifying? I would think the answer is, the beer didn't stand long enough by then to clear naturally. Therefore, help was needed and more than usual since strong ale was denser than mild ale. Denser than double stout? No, but porter never needed the degree of clarity other beers did, due to its naturally somber colour, so less suplhate sufficed in its case.
Gary
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